The Royal Guards of the Night
by Lovenote2001
Summary: Hurricane Whisper, the head spy for the Lunar Republic, overhears some serious news from the Solar Empire. Luna and the other bat ponies will not take this well..
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Messenger

The moon shone bright in the sky. The crickets sang their slow song. The birds all slept soundly in their nests. The night was calm. Mostly.

A pony streaked across the sky, a silhouette against the moon. White lines pierced the air from the tips of his webbed, bat wings. His teal eyes glowed with the silvery light in a panicked manner. He brought news from across the Everfree Forest. And it wasn't good.

The river that ran through the forest floor reflected his shadow as he flew, fast as lightning. He was almost to his destination, and as soon as he got there, everything would be okay.

The wavering wall broke the treetops.

_Almost there, _he thought. _Just get to the balcony, and Silver Wind will take your news to her. As soon as she knows, she will tell everypony, and the responsibility won't be on your shoulders, anymore. _

As he rounded the last bend of the river, he felt the magical wall pass through him, and he was at the castle. It towered high above the ground, the stone walls a perfect shade of silver.

_Home, _he thought. _I made it back alright._

He slowed his flight and began to circle the castle. The minor swarms of guards noticed him immediately. Murmuring spread throughout them; wonders of what the news was that their spy guard returned with.

The spy guard landed gingerly on long branch of the tree that reached up to the balcony, and swung upside-down. Another guard flew up and hung next to him.

"Hurricane Whisper," she greeted him. "What news do you bring?" Her slitted eyes became wider as she realized his hard breathing and frantic expression.

"Silver Wind," he panted. "I bring urgent news. From Canterlot."

Silver Wind looked at him intently, a look of worry crossing her gaze.

"The Solar Empire…" Hurricane trailed off.

Silver Wind put a hoof on his back.

"Catch your breath." she said. "Then speak."

Hurricane nodded and paused for a moment. When his breathing became normal again, he took a breath to speak.

"The Solar Empire." he began again. "I overheard a conversation from their meeting room in the palace. They are planning something."

Silver Wind raised her eyebrows.

"Did you catch what it was?" she asked urgently.

Hurricane nodded.

"Yes, I did. They were planning to attack the castle."

Silver Wind gasped.

"Oh no!" she yelped. "That truly is not good! We must tell the princess right away!"

She turned on the branch and spread her wings to fly, then stopped.

"Were you seen while you were spying on their meeting?" she asked.

Hurricane shook his head.

"Not that I know of."

Silver Wind let out a breath.

"Good." she sighed as she turned back toward the balcony opening. "Follow me, let's go tell the princess. This is an urgent matter."

She unlatched her hind legs from the branch, and dropped down into the air. Hurricane followed her, both of them swooping down over the balcony. They soared down the stone hallways, avoiding other guards in their way. A few caught the intensity in their eyes, and followed on their tails, wondering what was so urgent to make Silver Wind fly so fast. They knew it was normal for Hurricane, but Silver Wind was known as one of the slower guards, even with her larger wings. But this must be extremely important for her to be pacing with Hurricane.

As they reached the end of the halls, the guards opened their wings like parachutes to slow down quickly. Hurricane, Silver Wind, and a few other guards landed on the hard floor. The room was large, with a tall curved ceiling and a long blue and a silver carpet was rolled along the middle of the floor. At the end of the room, stairs lead up to a short platform. On it sat a throne, and a window on the wall behind it showed the moon, the only light source, which lit up most of the room.

"Princess!" shouted Silver Wind. "There is an urgent matter that I think you should know about!"

From beside the throne, a tall figure came. The moonlight from the window made it so that she was only a shadow. Her long mane flowed beautifully in the air. A long horn rose from her head, and elegant wings spread from her back.

"Silver Wind," she addressed her servant. "What is this news you bring me?"

Silver Wind, Hurricane, and the rest of the guards bowed.

"Princess," said Silver Wind. "Hurricane overheard a serious conversation in the meeting room of the Solar Empire."

The princess nodded slowly.

"What was this conversation about? Does Hurricane know?"

The princess and the other guards looked at Hurricane, who glanced around them before answering.

"Y-yes, Majesty." he stammered. Never being talked to by the princess personally, he was a little nervous. "T-they were planning an attack on the castle."

Gasps spread amongst the guards.

"WHAT!?" roared the princess. "How could she? My own sister! After we made peace with them!"

Silver Wind shook her head sadly.

"We always knew they would do this. We should never have trusted them." she muttered under her breath.

"Yes, but… my own sister…" said the princess, sadness entering her voice. "How could she?"

Then it began to intensify with rage.

"HOW COULD SHE DO THIS TO ME?!"

Her eyes glowed through the dark room.

"Hurricane Whisper," she said, trying to contain her anger. "When did they say they would attack our castle?"

Hurricane hesitated.

"Tonight, Majesty." he half-whispered.

She growled furiously as she galloped over to the opening of the room. The guards outside looked at her in confusion and worry.

"Princess Luna," one of them said.

In the torch-lit halls, the princess's dark blue body and hair were revealed. Her teal eyes wavered as she scowled.

"ALL ROYAL GUARDS OF THE NIGHT!" she boomed in her royal voice. "READY YOUR WEAPONS! GET ALL YOUNG PONIES TO THE BACK CHAMBERS! WE ARE ABOUT TO BE IN WAR!"

Everypony in the crowd went flying. Some ran into each other, while others found partners and flew off to the weaponry chamber.

Luna followed a different hall, and entered a smaller chamber. This one was lit by torches, and its back wall was home to many pieces of silver armor. The princess of the night made her way to the wall, and levitated a helmet onto her head.

"You have picked the wrong army to attack, sister." she said. "You ponies of the Solar Empire may think you are the best, but the New Lunar Republic shall win this battle!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Attack

Hurricane and Silver Wind stood side-by-side on the balcony. They watched the sky with large eyes, waiting for the Solar Empire to appear. It may take them the entire night to find the invisible orb that hid the castle. Or they could be right outside, planning their attack under the trees.

The one good thing about the wall was that the ponies on the inside could see out, but the ones on the outside could not see in. This gave the New Lunar Republic a very big advantage.

Suddenly, a large group of armored pegasi appeared over the treetops. One in the middle of the group was ultimately larger, and a superior horn on its head signified who it was.

"They're here…" breathed Silver Wind.

The group of pegasi continued getting ominously closer.

The captain of the Royal Guard, Storm Shield, flew out into the sky, looking back at the castle and all of its members. They stared at him awaiting their orders.

"Royal guards of the night!" he addressed the colony below. "Ready your weapons! Solar Empire incoming!"

Hurricane shifted nervously from hoof to hoof. He had never fought before. As long as he'd been on the Guard, he had only been captain spy. Never had he been involved in a real battle.

"Scared?" asked Silver Wind in a hushed voice.

Hurricane nodded and gulped.

"Well, I guess if we go down, we go down for our princess." Silver Wind said with a sigh.

The two guards continued to watch the incoming army with wide eyes. Neither of them had ever fought in their lives.

Then the sky was filled with a terrible rumbling sound as the leader of the Solar Empire fired a yellow beam from her horn. It must have been a very special and well thought spell, because instead of going through the invisibility wall, it struck it like stone on glass.

And the New Lunar Republic's only method of protection shattered before their eyes.

Their entire castle was revealed to the enemy.

Silence spread throughout both armies.

The pegasi hovered in place, just staring at the enormous castle below them.

"Maybe they won't attack…" hoped Silver Wind, still beside Hurricane.

The silence dragged on a while longer, until-

_Hweee-CHOOM! _

The leader of the Solar Empire fired another beam of magic strait at the castle, crumbling an entire wall.

The pegasi from the sky shot down, battle-ready.

From behind the awed army of bat ponies, Princess Luna flew.

"IT HAS BEGUN!" she shouted to her army. "THE SOLAR EMPIRE HAS DECLARED WAR UPON US! GUARDS! ATTACK!"

From all around the castle, bat pony guards shot out into the air, all covered with armor and weaponry.

Hurricane was frozen.

"Come on!" Silver Wind shouted at him. She was already hovering, waiting to fly off to battle. She kept glancing up, and back down at him. "Let's go!"

Hurricane tried to make his legs move, but they just wouldn't go. He was so scared.

After another few seconds of waiting, Silver Wind grunted and flew back down to him, headbutting his side. This snapped him out of his frozen state.

"What?" he snapped.

"We need to defend ourselves! The war has begun!"

She was right. Across the sky, pegasi and bat ponies were clashing. There was no getting out of this. He had to do it. For his princess.

He pumped his wings, and flew gingerly into the battle alongside Silver Wind.

Then he looked down at his hoof guards, and realized that he had no idea how to work them.

"How do you work these?" he shouted to Silver Wind over the clangs of battle.

Silver Wind glanced down at her own.

"I'm not quite sure. I think there's some way to unsheath them, like, um…"

She tried many different things, flipping them outward, flicking one then the other, then finally got them to work by swinging them both down at the same time.

"Well," she said. "I guess that's it." She swung the blades around, making sure they wouldn't retract again during a fight.

Hurricane swung his blades down to unsheath them, and made sure they were locked as well. Then he realized that he was using these to fight. He really did not like this idea.

"Alright," Silver Wind said. "Let's do thi-"

She was cut off abruptly by a grey pegasus in gold armor and metal claw-blades as he rammed into her. Hurricane saw the pegasus's weaponry claws slash across Silver Wind's chest in the fall, and tiny beads of scarlet trail in the air behind them.

"Silver Wind!" he shrieked. "NO!"

Soon she went limp under the pegasus, and he lifted off her before she slammed into the ground of the Everfree, about 100 wingbeats from the castle.

The pegasus hovered in the air above the forest, looking down at where the unfortunate bat pony had crashed to the earth. Then he flew away, back into the battle.

Hurricane, although scared out his wits, dove down to the place where Silver Wind had fell, hoping desperately that she was okay.

He hurtled through the leaves and branches of the treetops so fast, he almost slammed into the ground like his friend had just a moment ago. Luckily, he was able to slow himself down enough so that he didn't get hurt.

The Everfree forest was not such a terrible place for a bat pony. But with the sounds of battle overhead, and knowing that another of your same kind was down here, most likely dead, it didn't feel too welcoming, anymore.

Hurricane awkwardly raised his left hoof and set it down on the flat metal talons of his right hoof guard. Pushing down on them, he pried his right hoof from its armor, then proceeded in doing the same for the left. If he had only asked how to work the claws earlier, this could have been so much easier.

He hated these evil hoof guards. The sounds from the castle were enough already to remind him of the battle taking place. So he left his guards behind, but kept his armor on, just in case.

Then he set off to find Silver Wind.


End file.
